When legislators get it all wrong

Gold Member

I've lived here in Tenerife for almost 5 years and as I've previously posted will soon be moving back to the UK.

At first I used to see things here through rose coloured spectacles. A fabulous climate (save for the recent storms) and a new lifestyle can easily have that effect.

Recently I've been having some mega rants and thought I'd share some of my frustrations.

Employment law here in Spain, although designed to protect employees, causes huge problems. Without going into great detail an employee has an employment contract drawn up by a gestor or solicitor and it must be registered with the authorities. Usually contracts are temporary for 3 or 6 months and then must become indefinido (permanent) after so many temporary contracts. Once an employee has an indefinido contract is it almost impossible to fire them (save for gross misconduct) without having to pay them off with 1000's of euros. They can also go on the sick for up to 18 months with the employer having to pay them throughout this time. Every payslip must be prepared each month by a professional (usually a gestor) at a cost to the employer.

The result?

Small employers employ people either illegally (without a contract so they get no healthcare or pension benefits) or only on temporary contracts with breaks in between. Or they employ them on a contract of minimum hours say 5 hours a week and pay the rest of their hours as cash in hand. Pension benefits are based on the hours contracted so he employee misses out big time. I can understand small employers doing this to protect their business.

Large corporations cannot get away with doing the above so most employees end up on indefinido contracts. Boy can you tell which staff are on those contracts as they couldn't give a flying fuck. Customer service is absolutely nil. The queues at the supermarket checkouts are ridiculous. The staff are beyond rude and lazy. In the midst of serving a customer they will stop work and start chatting to a colleague or friend who is passing and not just a brief chat. Fuck working or dealing properly with a customer. Utility company staff are even worse. They go out of their way to be unhelpful and difficult. It's almost like a game of who can be the most difficult or do the least work.

A pal who has an apartment near me had his electricity cut off for non payment last week. He lives in the UK and pays everything by direct debit from his bank here. He checked his account and payments have been taken as normal but despite dozens of phone calls to the power company he is still none the wiser about what is owing. If he can find out I will happily go pay it for him but he can't. I know of two other people who had their power cut last week. Both pay through the bank with the power company collecting each month what is owed. It turns out in both cases the power company failed to collect a payment some months back. No reminders about the o/s payment just cut off.